Beefy Noodle Casserole

I am sharing with you today a recipe that has been in our family for as long as I can remember.  My mother made this for years, and I took this recipe with me to college as well.  I have been making it at my house and sharing it with friends for a long time too.  One of the really nice things about this recipe is that it "freezes beautifully".  If you remember that line from Steele Magnolias.  The original recipe makes a lot so it is great to cook about half for dinner and freeze half for another day or to share with a friend.

Nothing special in this recipe.  Elbow macaroni, ground beef, tomatoes and mushroom soup.  Bind it all together with some cheese and how can that be bad.

Chop your onion and then saute it in a little bit of olive oil.

Then brown your ground beef with the onion.

While the ground beef and onion are cooking, cook your elbow mac according to the pkg directions.

Drain your ground beef well.

Drain your macaroni well too.

I have this big bowl that I use mainly for this recipe.  Dump your macaroni in the bowl.  It will be hot so be careful.

Add one can of cream of mushroom soup.  I always use Healthy request version of the Campbell's soups.  They just don't seem as salty.

Add a small can of tomatoes.  These just happen to be ones that my mother canned but you can use store bought tomatoes about 2 cups.

Mix all those up well.  Make sure the pasta is coated well.

Add about a teaspoon of seasoning salt.  Pepper to taste.

Dump the ground beef and onion mixture to the noodle mixture.

Stir well.

Add a cup or so of cheese.  You can use any cheese that you like and as much as you like.  You are also going to add some to the top of the casserole during the cooking stage.

Transfer to a sprayed casserole dish.  Then place in a preheated 350 oven for about 20-25 minutes.  If you make this ahead of time and let it sit for a while before you cook you might need to cook a little longer but if everything is still really hot not as long.

Take it out of the oven.  It will be a little brown on top.

Now add the wonderful cheese on top.  Cover it good.  Place it back in the oven for about 5 minutes or so until the cheese is nice and bubbly.  I like to turn on the broil for a minute or two to get it a little brown.

Fresh out of the oven.

I always serve this with black eyed peas because my mother did.  It is good reheated for leftovers.

I just had to share a picture of my blue bird that I saw this morning at my bird bath.  They are so pretty and they like to nest in my blue bird box but I don't usually get a nice close up of them.

Beefy Noodle Casserole Recipe

1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion chopped
1 box elbow macaroni cooked per pkg directions
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small can or 2 c tomatoes
cheese
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
pepper to taste

Brown ground beef and onion in a little olive oil.  Drain well.  Cook pasta, drain well.  Mix pasta, cream of mushroom soup, tomatoes, seasoning salt and pepper.  Add the ground beef and onions.  Add one cup cheese.  Mix well.  Place in a sprayed casserole dish.  Place in a preheated 350 oven for 20-25 minutes.  Remove and add cheese to cover.  Place back in oven for 5-6 minutes until golden and bubbly.